The sun rises as seen behind the U.S. Capitol building on the morning after a bipartisan bill was passed by the House and the Senate to reopen the government and raise the debt limit on Oct. 17.

Everyone is happy that Congress reached a compromise to raise the debt ceiling, which ended the government shutdown. But all that did was kick the can down the road, as The Star's Gary Varvel visualized so accurately in his recent cartoon. This compromise raises the national debt to more than $17 trillion. Every man, woman and child in the U.S. owes China, Japan, the United Kingdom and other treasury-bond holders an average of $53,896 each.

There is plenty of blame on both parties. The deficit doubled from $5 trillion to $10 trillion during George W. Bush's administration and is on track again to double to $20 trillion during Barack Obama's administration.

Last year federal spending was $3.5 trillion. About $1.5 trillion, or one-third, came from borrowing. That means treasury bonds sold to China, Japan and the United Kingdom and other bond-holders. Someday they will want their money and who will pay? The answer is you, your children and grandchildren.

Raising taxes even by 20 percent, whether on the rich or everyone, would make only a small dent in this debt. Who's to blame? All Americans and special-interest groups who demand a share of the pie. Only when Americans stop demanding more and more free goodies from the government will this trend ever be reversed.

Dr. David Sumner

Anderson

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Nation must confront its growing debt

Everyone is happy that Congress reached a compromise to raise the debt ceiling, which ended the government shutdown. But all that did was kick the can down the road, as The Star's Gary Varvel